MasterChef offends Malaysians

[Anna N]

Here.

 

 Malaysians are up in arms over a judge who finds fault with a chicken rendang preparation. 

Edited April 3, 2018 by Anna N
To fix logic (log)

[gfweb]

It doesn't look like an attractive dish.

[pastrygirl]

" However, the chicken skin isn't crispy. It can't be eaten and all the sauce is on the skin so I can't eat it," Mr Wallace remarked. "

 

'Can't' does not seem like the appropriate word here.  Yes of course crispy chicken skin is usually delicious while soft, flaccid cooked chicken skin is less crave-able.  But can't eat it?  People with serious aversions to food textures probably shouldn't be food-contest judges.  Sure, we all have our limits - mushy bananas, okra, whatever - but a food judge should be able to take a small taste of anything properly cooked.   Top Chef judges chose not to eat raw lake trout due to potential parasites, but Tom will still choke down okra if chefs opt to serve it.

[KennethT]

soft, flaccid cooked chicken skin is loved all over Asia... I've never seen chicken cooked without its skin, and most of the time, it's in some kind of stew or sauce that keeps the skin soft.  I've also never seen it discarded or not eaten.  In my experience, it's also rare to see boneless chicken as well (although the bones are discarded - typically after being chewed and cleaned).  So I think the judge's aversion is more of a cultural thing, or maybe the judge being an a$$hole thing*

 

* I didn't watch the episode or the clip, so I can't make a statement about the judge, but it seems like an a$$holic thing to say...

[Kim Shook]

Sounds like they need a new judge.  I know that I would not care for this dish due to the chilies and a HUGE aversion to soft poultry skin, but I'm not a culinary judge and would never try to pretend to be.

[helenjp]

There's a reason why it's popular - my mother got keen on Malaysian and Indonesian cooking long ago, but rendang was the one she was still making a decade later, partly because it  is the perfect dish for a crowd. Rich, a bit sour, aromatic...

If you want to use desiccated coconut, take a hard look at the quality - it often seems old, dry, and tasteless in western supermarkets.

[liuzhou]

11 hours ago, KennethT said:

soft, flaccid cooked chicken skin is loved all over Asia... I've never seen chicken cooked without its skin, and most of the time, it's in some kind of stew or sauce that keeps the skin soft.  I've also never seen it discarded or not eaten.  In my experience, it's also rare to see boneless chicken as well (although the bones are discarded - typically after being chewed and cleaned).  So I think the judge's aversion is more of a cultural thing, or maybe the judge being an a$$hole thing*

 

* I didn't watch the episode or the clip, so I can't make a statement about the judge, but it seems like an a$$holic thing to say...

 

Exactly. I agree with everything you say, although I do have a few Chinese friends and colleagues who, like me, don't particularly care for soft skin. One close friend's mother, now sadly departed*, always liked to sit beside me at dinner and grab the bits of skin I discarded. In exchange she would give me the white meat, which she thought worthless**. It became a family joke. And yes, everything on the bone. I prefer that, too.

I've never seen the show nor wanted to, but the guy does sound a bit of a dick.

 

* The departure was not at all chicken skin related.
** It's not my favourite. I'm a leg man. But not worthless. I mean the white meat is not worthless;  I may be.

Edited April 4, 2018 by liuzhou (log)

[Kerala]

Ignorance and arrogance. Yep. Guy's a dick.

[Kerala]

We all get things wrong. It's the refusal to own up and apologise, the lack of reflection that really annoys me here.